Monday, December 27, 2010

A Pocketful of Sky -A Summary and A Giveaway

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! We were away for the weekend with family, and we're now home again, marveling at the ridiculous amounts of snow everywhere. Our deck, for instance, is about 3 feet deep in snow. Grrrr.

The first was for me and the kids. I meant it as a sort of inspiration wall for myself, but we ended up using it as an advent calendar with two extra pockets for candy wrappers. The kids loved playing with all the different pockets, even when it was yet half-finished and full of pins. Had to shoo them away just so they'd be safe. I finished mine the traditional way - with a backing and binding.

The second one is for you. Well, one of you - I'm giving it away as a Happy New Year present!
You can use it as an advent calendar, too - for Christmas or to count down to Spring 2011.

But I finished yours differently - the backing is only buttoned on

so you can unbutton it, peel it back, and examine all the innards of 26 pockets. I made it to be a teaching tool as well as a reference guide-cum-inspiration wall - to let you study pocket construction to your heart's content.

If you would like to win the Pocketful of Sky teaching quilt, this is what to do:

Blog about the pocket series and the teaching quilt.

It doesn't have to be a long post - the point is to spread the word so other people can come here to learn about pockets. If you'd like some visuals, go ahead and use 1 or 2 photos from this blog. If you don't have a blog, you could also post about it in a public group forum - only please make sure viewers don't need to register/become members to read it.

Then come back here and leave a comment with a link to your post.

I'll check all your links, and pick a comment at random.

I can ship internationally, so anyone in the world can enter.

I'll leave the giveaway open till bedtime of 1 January 2011 and pick the winner the next day.

I love blue and white for Advent colors, but really I would love to learn how to make more pockets for my two-year old daughter. Here is the link: http://susiquetzalli.blogspot.com/2010/12/see-these-beautiful-quilts-one-of-my.html

Oh wow, how cool is that! I linked to your blog from in post about developing new techniques on Stitchers Guild as I'd love other people to also be able to make all those great pockets. Please don't remove any of the posts as I really want to be able to come back and read them all later.Stitchers Guild http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.phpSew Ruthie http://ruthieksews1.blogspot.com/

You are amazing and so generous! This is a fantastic giveaway and since I don't have a blog (yet)I posted about it at my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=lfThanks for the chance!ap_lemos at yahoo dot com

You are so creative. What a beautiful way to teach and learn about sewing. It reminds me of the button/zipper dolls that help children learn to do all sorts of fasteners. Thanks for all the hard work and time in putting together the tutorials.

Oh my that is such an amazing blanket! I have never tried pockets myself before so have been refreshing your blog everyday waiting for the next post about them. I actually blogged about your tutorials back at the beginning of December :) http://toastiestudio.blogspot.com/2010/12/pockets-tutorial.html

Well I'm not going to include myself in the giveaway because I think it should go to someone who would actually use it. But I did want to say it's fantastic! And if I ever get around to sewing something with pockets I will certainly come back and look through your archives.

Oh my goodness! Aside from being a guide to learn how to make some of those incredible pockets, my little girl would totally use it! She LOVES pockets...probably more than most other things.Linked to my post here:http://www.falafelandthebee.com/?p=4552Thanks for the chance to win!~Michelle

I wrote an article about your great job (in French, do you mind ? if you want me to translate on my blog, just tell me !) :http://laraignee-fauchee.blogspot.com/2010/12/inspiration-admiration-6.htmlthanks a lot for sharing your talent !

Hello from Sweden! This is such a beautiful quilt and what a great idea that you just buttoned on the backing. I would soo love to win this! Your blog has really inspired me, thank you! My link: http://www.lerolai.se/2010/12/jaha-da-var-det-sista-dagen-pa-detta.html

I don't have a blog either but I wanted to tell you how great I think this quilt is. Since 2011 is going to be my "clear the stash out" year I'm going to be using this tutorial a lot. It's clear and a great reference! Thanks so much for taking the time to make it for us!

WOW! i love this quilt and all the pockets. i just found you from whipup and will definitely be scouring your blog and all the pocket tutes. my blog is private and includes only my non-sewing family, but i will share this with my sewing buddy. does that count? :) either way, thank you for sharing!!!

Yeah, I made it!I just read this post yesterday but did not have the chance to write a post as little one is sick again. But he is napping now and I squeezed in some writing time ... :-)And here is my blog post:

I totally love the teaching quilt! Amazing! It would be so helpful - and fun to look at! Love all those blues! And I could rest my eyes from all that pink in the girls room. ;-)

Wishing you and your family an amazing 2011!!!

Btw, the tutorial list - 100! - is up, too, if you want to check it out.http://muffinsnmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/100-free-tutorials-and-patterns.htmlIt is not really pretty as I have really trouble formatting my posts in blogger at the moment - but it is up! I included a link to your blog, too! If you want to you can share a link to the list on your blog. It was quite some work to copy it all together so it would be good if many people get to enjoy it! :-)

Wow. I missed the giveaway, having just discovered your blog---however, THANK YOU for a really inspirational resource. I teach apparel construction and fashion design and will definitely send my students to your blog for the tutorials!!!

Hi, Thanks so much for all of your tutorials, they really are awesome. I would like to make the quilt and was wondering if you could post some brief directions about the size of your quilt and some basic directions on how to begin? I know it sounds demanding but I would love love love to do this but am a little overwhelmed by it.Thanks again, Katie

The quilt is a small one - 26" x 36" and is essentially a big piece of white fabric that has pockets sewn onto it. Then you cut a backing piece exactly the same size, and sew that to the back of the white piece (that has all the pockets sewn on). I just attached the two pieces around their edges. I didn't actually do any quilting stitching on it - which is why I call it a faux quilt. It's small enough to not sag in the middle. Then you bind the quilt the usual way. Sewing on the pockets is quite easy - you prepare each individual pocket and sew it onto the quilt as if the quilt were the garment you were sewing the pocket onto.

Thank you so much for your wonderful patch pocket tutorial. I'm a new seamstress and was looking for directions for basic patch pockets when I found your blog. Your directions are easy to follow and your designs have inspired me to get even more creative. Thanks!

Hi, I discovered your blog this days and I loved it! I tried to sew your pocket tutorial and they are amazing! I bought my first sewing machine last year because I want to learn how to sew. Thanks for sharing your skills! Here is my lesson done:http://diariodenaii.blogspot.com/2012/02/bolsillos.html

This is a brilliant idea. I am going to pin it so that I can keep coming back to refer to it for pocket inspiration and instruction. You can be certain that I will give credit where ever I refer to your tute. I m in the planning stages of making my first pair of jeans and I will make good use of your jeans patch pocket and one of the front pocket options.

Just wanted to thank you for sharing this site on pockets...I've been making dresses for the needy and this is wonderful ...I posted your page on my pinterest for others to find your site. Hope that is ok....they will be directed to your site. Thanks again...Patsy

I have typed the URL to your "Pocket Full of Sky" summary page in the Facebook group, Sewing 4 Beginners, as an example of different types of pockets for embellishment. Your quilt is great, your pockets are named, and you've got tutorials for them.

Hello and Welcome!

I am a gratefully unemployed mom of three girls, all of whom are growing up much too soon! I like piles of warm, fresh laundry, the smell of salt air near the beach where I used to live, making lists, anything round (like heads) and the quiet evenings sitting with the man of the house after the kids are in bed.

Copyright

You are welcome to link to this blog and to any post on this blog and use ONE or TWO photos for that purpose. Do not use photos of my children. You are welcome to pin images from my blog, if those photos do not have my children's faces in them. Please contact me if you want to use the text on, or more photos from, this blog. Do not post my tutorials on your sites. Do not translate tutorials from this blog into other languages on your site. The ideas and instructions in the tutorials are free - but please use them to only make stuff for yourself or for gifts and not to sell. Ta! For more information, this and this might be helpful.